The town

Abernethy (Scottish Gaelic: Obar Neithich) is a village with burgh status in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, situated 8 mi (13 km) south-east of Perth, south of the Firth of Tay, very close to the border with Fife. Its population, according to the 2001 UK census, was 945.

The parish

Abernethy is a coastal parish on the south bank of the River Tay, which lies in the Perth and Kinross Council Area in Scotland, some 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Newburgh in Fife and 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Perth.

Prior to 1974 Abernethy was located in the old county of Perthshire, which was replaced by the Tayside region and in 1996 by the unitary authority of Perth and Kinross.

The parish has an area of 37 sq. km (14.2 sq. miles). As well as the village of Abernethy, the parish includes the hamlets of Glenfoot and Aberargie.

The FreeCen Project for Perthshire has a searchable (not browsable) transcription of the major part of Perthshire for 1841 and 1851. The Scotland FreeCen page states that some work has also been done on 1861.

Transcriptions of Gravestone Inscriptions

The Scottish Genealogy Society provides a series of monumental inscriptions either in print in booklet form or on CD. Most of these were prepared by John Fowler Mitchell and Sheila Mitchell and published 1967. A new edition has been printed, with corrections, as a 4 volume set.

Further Sources of Reference

The Gazetteer for Scotland article on the the county of Perthshire. The tabs on the right provide more information, and a map of the parish within its surrounding area, with small settlements highlighted and linked to more information.

The FamilySearch Wiki article on Perthshire provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the county.

The National Library of Scotland have a website devoted to maps from the 1600s right up to the present. Comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place can be made. From the home page click on "Find by place" and then follow the instructions on the next page. Once you are viewing the place you want, use the slider <----> at the top of the map to compare the layout of roads and the place names of smaller areas, perhaps even farms, with the landscape today. The website takes some getting used to. The One-inch 2nd edition, Scotland, 1898-1904 OS is a series of maps with the parishes delineated. Each of these maps cover an area of 18 x 24 miles and will zoom to comfortable reading size with a couple of mouse clicks on the map itself. Unfortunately, they are not geo-referenced, and it is necessary to go to the OS One Inch 1885-1900 series to locate places by latitude and longitude.

The Statistical Accounts for Scotland In the 1790s and again in the 1830s, the ministers of the all the parishes of the Church of Scotland were asked to provide a description of their parish to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The original account request included 160 questions to be answered. These accounts are available in print in 20 volumes and are also online where it is freely available to browse. The browsing portal is below the viewing area of most computer screens. Scroll down to "For non-subscribers" and click on "Browse scanned pages". This brings you to another page on which one can enter the name of the parish in which you are interested.

Excerpts from The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885 are provided by Scottish Places. Selections from Groome and other gazetteers from the 19th century are also found on GENUKI.